Seems the company you keep really does rub off, according to science

Do you feel like you've become a bit lazy or impatient of late? Then you might want to take a look at the company you keep, because a new study has shown that we tend to unconsciously imitate the attitudes of those around us...

Researchers from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research explored the way that three personality traits, laziness, impatience and prudence, are influenced by those we spend time with. Up until now, it has always been thought that these attitudes were simply ingrained in all of us, the Mail Online reports.

The team used mathematical modelling and psychology to look at the ways in which attitudes change.

They asked 56 participants to make a series of decisions involving risk, delay or effort, both before and after observing the decisions made by fictitious volunteers whose reactions had been controlled by the scientists.

The experiment revealed an unconscious 'social influence' bias, meaning our attitude is affected by those around us, the researchers have revealed in the journal PLOS Computational Biology.

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